Man survives 17 storey fall

An American man has survived after falling 17 floors from the window of a hotel in the US city of Minneapolis.

Joshua Hanson, 29, landed on a roof awning and suffered multiple broken bones with some internal injuries, but is expected to recover.

Mr Hanson crashed through the floor-to-ceiling window at the end of a corridor after returning to the Hyatt Regency after a night of drinking. Hotel managers said they would investigate the unprecedented incident.

Police Lt Dale Barness told the Associated Press that Mr Hanson must have "an angel on his shoulder or something".

"He's a lucky guy."

Police said Mr Hanson finished drinking with friends and returned to the hotel at about 0130. Lt Barness said that as his lift arrived at the 17th floor he ran down towards the end of the corridor, where he somehow lost balance and crashed through the floor-to-ceiling window.

But his fall was broken by the awning one floor above the ground. He was found on the ground and needed to be freed from the awning before being taken to hospital for treatment.

Skateboarder makes it

A British man who has travelled almost 6,000 kilometres across Australia on a skateboard says he has set a new world record after arriving in Brisbane this afternoon.

Welshman Dave Cornthwaithe left Perth last August for a journey that raised about $4,000 for charities to help disabled and poverty-stricken people.

The blistered and bruised 27-year-old arrived at South Bank in inner Brisbane this afternoon, with local skaters joining him for the home stretch.

Mr Cornthwaithe says the ride beats an American world record for the longest skateboarding journey.

"It's really been hard sometimes and I'm not going to say that I haven't wanted to throw my skateboard against the wall a few times, but we're here now," he said.

He says one of the toughest legs was through the Nullarbor Plain from Western Australia into South Australia.

"I've just skated almost 5,900 kilometres and the Nullarbor was a huge section of that - almost 1,500," he said.
"It was empty, it was a long stretch, it was very hot and there were barely any turns. So I had to put my head down and really try not to focus on the end of the road, purely because I couldn't see it."

A camera crew travelled with the 27-year-old. He says his feet are blistered and bruised but he would be willing to do the journey again.

"I'm just an ordinary guy who's just done something amazing," he said."It just takes a bit of determination and it doesn't matter who you are. "Just find what you want to do and go for it and a couple of years later, you can go back to normal life."

Natto so good

Top Japanese television executives have abjectly apologised for airing a programme based on fabricated data that sparked a run on natto -- sticky fermented soybeans -- at stores across the country.

The show, made by Kansai Telecasting Corp (KTV) in the western city of Osaka, claimed people could lose weight by eating the pungent food for breakfast and dinner daily for two weeks.
Shortly after the show was broadcast nationwide on January 7, thousands of Japanese, keen to lose weight, rushed to stores and bought up all the natto on the shelves.

Many Japanese believe natto is a healthy addition to their diet and it is widely eaten with rice for breakfast.

"We are extremely sorry that we damaged viewers' trust by producing and broadcasting a programme containing content that was not based on facts," the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper quoted KTV president Soichiro Chigusa as telling reporters.

Man rescued from cupboard

A central Christchurch worker was rescued from a large cupboard by the fire service yesterday.

The man, who did not want to be identified, arrived at the Canterbury Manufacturers' Association building yesterday morning and showered before starting work.

A colleague said that the shower was situated at the back of a large cupboard-like storage facility in the building.

The man pulled the door shut on his way in. However, it wedged in place and the lock jammed, leaving him trapped inside.

Southern fire communications centre shift manager Brian Sharpe said an emergency call was received just before 9am, reporting that a man was stuck in a closet.

A fire appliance was sent to the building.

Christchurch central fire station officer Evan Brown said it took about 10 minutes to open the door.

"We used a screwdriver ... and took the pins out. He took a bit of a ribbing from us."

After officers removed pins from the door, the man managed to kick it open, Brown said.

The employee was left waiting in the cupboard wearing just his towel and a shirt, but handled the situation in good spirits, he said.

The rescued man did not return a request to contact The Press.

Ring found after 9 months

An Australian man who lost his wedding ring while swimming near an Indonesian island last April was reunited with it nine months later thanks to a tenacious Indonesian guide who had promised to search for it.

Keith Kimmons, 53, lost his ring while snorkeling with his son near a remote coral reef off the island of Sepa, a tourist destination in the Thousand Islands archipelago a few dozen kilometres from Jakarta.

"As I was getting out of the water I realised that I had lost my wedding ring. I was devastated," Mr Kimmons said, who was married in 1975.

"The atoll was as big as a small football field," he said, explaining the difficulty of trying to find his ring.

A local named Jamhuri, who acted as their guide, promised to keep looking for it every time he returned to the reef.

"I thought what do I have to lose? I gave him my business card," Mr Kimmons said, who works in the Indonesian capital.

Months passed and Mr Kimmons was unaware that Jamhuri was still searching for his ring every time he took tourists out to the reef.

Last week a storm disturbed some of the coral. Jamhuri went for another look and finally found the ring.

He sent Mr Kimmons a text message telling him the good news and met him in Jakarta to reunite him with his wedding ring.

"I met him on Monday. I gave him a reward. I had to force him because he did not want to take it," a very pleased Mr Kimmons said.

An apple a day .... = detention

Parents have slammed a headmaster after a pupil got a detention for eating an APPLE in the wrong place. Tom Bosley, 16, was nearly expelled over the incident.

His father Andy called discipline imposed by head Chris Richardson “ludicrous”.

But Mr Richardson said Tom had been punished for eating the apple outside a designated area, which he said was a breach of health and safety regulations. He said: “All students are aware of this rule and the consequences of not adhering to it.”

Tom was given a 30-minute detention in the next lunch hour.

But students only find they are in detention if they check a noticeboard at Kings of Wessex Community School in Cheddar, Somerset, and Tom — who is predicted to get 11 A-grade GCSEs — didn’t realise he had been punished.
So he got an after-school detention but refused to go in protest — and was ordered to spend a day in a “supervised learning unit”.

Tom was warned he would be expelled if he didn’t attend. He said: “The punishments are way too harsh. It just shows the abuse of power within the school. You can’t argue with them.”

Dad Andy said: “All the parents are upset. We’ve tried to complain to the school, but they never respond. I’m all for punishing troublemakers but Tom is a sensible lad — the punishments just don’t seem to fit the crime.”

Pupils at the school say they are monitored by CCTV and handed harsh punishments for minor breaches of school rules. Detentions have been imposed for undoing top shirt buttons, removing blazers in hot weather or wearing the wrong shade of black trousers.

One boy got a detention for not bringing a muffin to a cookery class, while a girl was given a similar punishment for sucking a MINT in the playground.

But Mr Richardson, whose school is one of the top ones in Somerset and has recently been given foundation status, stands by his zero-tolerance approach. A Campaign for Real Education spokesman said: “All good schools have strict discipline, but the punishment should fit the crime.”

Foster parents ????

A foster mother has had a baby with a refugee from Eastern Europe whom she took in when he was 14.

Julia Gregg, 34, and her husband, Steve Crandon, 38, gave a home to Kosovan Krenar Lleshi after he arrived in south Wales in the back of a lorry in 1999.

But the Ebbw Vale couple later divorced and Ms Gregg and Mr Lleshi, 21, fell in love. Ms Gregg said they plan to marry.

She said: "I know people have gossiped about us but we are very proud parents."

Mr Lleshi was smuggled in to Britain with fellow Kosovan Edmond Pone, when both were aged 14.

The pair were taken into local authority care and fostered by Ms Gregg, then 27, and Mr Crandon.

Grafitti house

SAN MATEO — The Community Improvement Commission ordered a Shoreview resident Wednesday to remove cryptic messages written on her home or face as much as $5,000 in fines.

Estrella Benevides, 46, has until Feb. 14 to erase the painted script from her home in the 1800 block of Cottage Grove Avenue, which has been covered with an inscrutable text containing biblical references, conspiracy theories and glimpses into a painful personal history.

The commission ruled that Benevides will be fined $50 for every day following Feb. 14 that her roof, garage and windows remain covered with the messages, up to a limit of $5,000. The commission also imposed an administrative fee of $1,829.

Benevides vowed not to remove the messages, which she believes come from God, and to fight the commission's decision, citing her First Amendment rights to free speech. Commissioners said the problem wasn't constitutional.

"We're not complaining about what you're discussing in your signs," Commissioner Nonie Tremaine told Benevides. "We're discussing the size of your signs."

City codes prevent residents of single-family homes from writing on their roofs or posting signs larger than 6 square feet in size, though informal exceptions are made for Christmas displays.

HERO

A man who was fed up with paying massive bank charges decided to give one of the high street giants a taste of its own medicine.

When Royal Bank of Scotland refused to refund £3,400 charges that Declan Purcell believed he was owed, he sent in the bailiffs. Stunned customers at his branch of RBS watched as debt collectors seized four computers, two fax machines and a till filled with cash.

The branch manager was told that the items would be sold unless RBS came up with the money owed to Mr Purcell. Only when the manager gave an undertaking that the debt would be paid did the bailiffs leave.

Mr Purcell said: "I think the bank was pretty shocked when the bailiffs went in. But my view is that this is exactly what they would have done to me."

The move, which will raise a cheer from millions of other bank customers, is part of a consumer fightback against bank charges, which net an estimated £4.5 billion every year.

Every time a current account customer goes overdrawn by as little as £1 most banks will charge around £28, even though the administration cost is only about £4.50. Then every cheque, direct debit, or card transaction that goes through or is bounced incurs another charge of up to £38.

The Office of Fair Trading is investigating whether banks have implemented these charges unlawfully.

Blind Justice

A Spanish judge has let a blind man go free after accepting his explanation for driving at 154km/h (96mph).

Domingo Merino was accused of fraud by his insurers, who had been ordered to pay him compensation for his loss of sight in a car crash two years earlier. The company said the fact that he was caught speeding proved he could see.

The judge disagreed, accepting Mr Merino's explanation that his wife had let him take the wheel on a quiet stretch of road, despite his blindness.

He was caught speeding on a stretch of motorway he said he knew like the back of his hand.

The judge in the Barcelona court dismissed the insurance company's complaints, saying a series of medical tests had proved beyond doubt that Mr Merino really could not see.

He acquitted the driver of fraud and ordering the company to pay the compensation in full.

Murder suspect; EVERYONE

Miguel Grima was not a well-liked man. As mayor of a tiny hamlet in the foothills of the Pyrenees in northern Spain he had ruffled a few feathers. Police are considering the entire population of the village as suspects

The farmers turned against him when he put a stop to the centuries-old custom of herding livestock through village. The hunters got annoyed when he refused to issue them with shooting licences and the local drinkers revolted after he prevented the settlement's only bar from setting out tables on the terrace in summer.

He had repeatedly received anonymous threatening letters and reportedly told friends recently that he feared for his life and he was considering standing down as mayor of Fago at the next election.

So last Friday evening when he failed to return home from a late council meeting in a nearby town, his wife took his absence seriously and contacted police.
The next day the battered body of Mr Grima was discovered in a roadside ditch. He had been shot at least four times in the head and chest at point-blank range.

Police believe Mr Grima was the victim of a meticulously planned ambush involving at least three perpetrators and, in a move worthy of an Agatha Christie murder mystery, the police are considering the entire population of the village as suspects.

Fago, the second smallest village in the province of Aragon, comprises fewer than 90 stone-built residences tightly packed on cobbled streets around a 16th century Romanesque church, a stone's throw from the ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela.

Always quiet in the winter months, the place resembles a ghost town as this week the majority of the 37 permanent residents have been taken in for questioning by the police and have had to give DNA samples.

Those who own property for use as a weekend getaway or holiday home are also being sought. Although no official statement has yet been given, the Guardia Civil have indicated that they strongly believe those responsible for the murder of the 50-year-old mayor bore a grudge over his policies in the village.

There is no shortage of contenders. During his 12 years in office, the mayor, a member of the conservative Popular Party and the owner of the village's only guest house, had been involved in almost four dozen individual court cases with homeowners in Fago.

He had taken out injunctions to prevent people making home improvements and closed down a bed and breakfast because it competed for business with his own establishment.

Mr Grima had even incurred the wrath of the parents of the only two children living in the village by banning basketballs and shooting hoops in the village's only flat area - the central plaza.

The most public battle in recent times came about after the mayor imposed taxes of almost 400 euros a month on outdoor tables at Fago's only drinking establishment – the Casa Moriega bar – an amount locals consider high for an isolated village which attracts only a modest number of visitors in summer.

To protest against the prohibitively high tax, the owners of the bar hung a huge banner on the facade of the building stating: "Fago is not Madrid, not Paris, not London... Fago is not New York."

Santiago Miramar, the only villager who would comment on this week's events, said there were few in Fago who didn't consider themselves an enemy of the mayor.

"He was an unpleasant man who ran this place like his personal kingdom. He made life difficult for most of us but for a select few he made life impossible," he said.

Another villager, who refused to be named because he had been told by a judge that no one was to speak publicly while they were under suspicion, said: "Revenge is a dish best served cold. I'm not saying anything more than that."

Ingenious kid !

A nine-year-old boy faces a string of criminal charges after he stole a car, led police on a high-speed chase and then flew across America after talking his way on to two planes without a ticket.

Unhappy with suburban life after his family moved from Texas to Lakewood, Washington state, Semaj Booker developed a penchant for running away and stealing cars after apparently learning to drive by playing video games.

Last Sunday, he stole a car that had been left running outside a neighbour's house and was later spotted driving along an interstate highway.

Police pursued him at up to 90 mph until he came off the highway, the engine blew and the car ran into a tree.

Officers took him home but the following day he was off again, this time to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport where he obtained a Southwest Airlines boarding card, got through security and headed back to Texas to see his grandfather in Dallas.

He almost got there, flying to Phoenix, Arizona, and then taking a second flight to San Antonio, Texas. But there his luck ran out and he was apprehended trying to get on a third plane.

Ladders a no-no

Firefighters have been told not to use ladders to fit smoke alarms in homes - in case they fall.

Officers had been using householders' ladders to fit the alarms.

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service bosses say this breaks new health and safety laws, reports the Sun.

Now, Fire Brigade Union officials have told officers not to use any equipment that householders suggest they borrow.

One firefighter said: "Going up ladders is second nature to us. It's crazy. We're more at risk decorating at home."

Another said: "Where will this end? Will we still be able to carry a rescued person down a ladder or enter a burning building without health and safety on our back?"

Nice one Gordon !

Chancellor Gordon Brown has provoked a storm by appearing to back England to host and win the football World Cup in 2018 - and not his native Scotland.

Mr Brown said he would like "the host" to win such a competition, adding that "of course, Scotland will do well".

SNP leader Alex Salmond said the comments made Mr Brown look "ridiculous in Scotland and insincere in England".

Later Mr Brown said in a statement: "My ideal scenario is that Scotland play England in the final and Scotland win."

The MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath added: "But if we don't qualify, or we go out in an earlier round, then I would transfer my allegiance to the other home nation, England."

Mr Salmond said: "Gordon Brown is fast becoming a figure of fun in these matters.

Pants !

Police in a Wiltshire village have been trying to get to the bottom of an underwear mystery.

Around 30 pairs of knickers have been draped over road signs and gravestones in Purton, near Swindon.

No-one has reported the items as stolen and they all appear to be new and of quite good quality.

Phil Elliott from Purton Police said: "If it's a practical joke and someone could just let us in on it, then that would be great."

He said police had been recovering various pieces of women's underwear since November.

He added: "We don't know if it's a criminal offence or a prank. If it's a prank, please tell us."

Walking to the pole

A UK team who have made history by reaching the centre of Antarctica without mechanical assistance have spoken of their epic journey. Henry Cookson, Rory Sweet and Rupert Longsdon used only skis and kites to travel 1,093 miles (1,750km) to the Pole of Inaccessibility.

Mr Cookson told of the moment when they saw their goal.... "We were on the verge of collapse, but we just looked at each other and started laughing," he said.

The Pole of Inaccessibility is marked by a life-size bust of Lenin, left by a Russian team who reached the pole using vehicles in 1958.

"We saw this black dot on the horizon. It got larger, then we saw this silhouette of the statue. It was so surreal after travelling across 1,750km of flat Antarctic plateau," said Mr Cookson. He said the team, accompanied by Canadian guide Paul Landry, had experienced "serious lows and highs" throughout their journey.

"We had three or four days without a breath of wind. Our bodies seemed to relax. When we started again, the pain was mind-numbing," he said.

He added that the team helped each other by keeping at the same pace and helping each other with equipment problems and sharing out loads when one person was finding it too tough.

The challenge was completed to raise money for The Calvert Trust, which provides adventure opportunities for disabled people.

The team - who call themselves N2i - hope to raise £150,000 towards a sports centre.

They pitched their tent 30ft from Lenin's gaze and will spend the coming days preparing for their pick-up.

Henry Cookson, 31, from West Kensington in London, Mr Sweet, 39, from South Cerney, and Mr Longsdon, 34, from Coates, both in Gloucestershire, expect to return to the UK on 7 February.

While they are waiting to be collected, Mr Cookson said the team intended to dig below the Lenin statue to try to find the hut it is said to stand on top of.

"In the base there is said to be a golden book, which we will sign if we can get to it," said Mr Cookson.

As for the future, Mr Cookson said newly-married Mr Longsdon intends to spend some time with his wife and Mr Sweet is hoping to break the hot air balloon altitude record.

"I just want to get home safely and in one piece, then I'll see what else is tempting. There are some fantastic possibilities," said Mr Cookson.

The Brooklyn wall

NEW YORK -- A divorce battle playing out in New York City has turned a Brooklyn home into something out of the Cold War.

Chana and Simon Taub can't agree on which of them should move out of their house. So they're both living there -- separated by a wall.

The white drywall partition was put up a few weeks ago, on orders from a judge. It divides the living room from the staircase on the bottom floor of the three-story house.

She gets the top floor, where the bedrooms are, along with the kitchen on the second floor. He gets the living room on the first floor and the dining room on the second floor.

So that they don't run into each other on the second floor, the door between the dining room and the kitchen is barricaded on both sides.

One of their children is staying with Dad. Three others are staying with Mom.

The Big Ballet Company

A troupe of fat Russian ballerinas is to tour Britain, proving you don't have to be thin to be nimble.

The Big Ballet Company was founded in Perm in the Ural Mountains in 1994 by the influential choreographer Evgeny Panfilov to challenge preconceptions of who can dance, and prove grace and nimbleness are not the sole preserve of the thin.

Although the company trains daily, none of the members is a fully classically trained ballet dancer. They are not ballerinas run to seed, but all were large from childhood and chosen for the company in their teens.

Katya Yurkowa, the Big Ballet's dance captain, said: "We eat normal amounts of food, and the same food, as everybody else; our size is in our genes. We had the opportunity and, under one of the world's leading choreographers, we gained the ability and confidence to take to the stage and show we are as good at professional dance as thin people."
Their show, which opens in Hull on 27 February and will tour to nearly 30 venuesy, is largely comic, Mr Ignatov said. "Their slogan is, 'You don't have to take life seriously'. And although the girls themselves are overweight, you have cute faces in front of you."

"It's actually surprisingly easy to do the splits" says troupe leader Katya Kurkowa .... " when you have 280lbs of downward force !"

Miss behaving

A 12-year-old girl was praised for her efforts in English in a report from school - an impressive achievement considering she was not a pupil there.

She also had a letter from an education welfare officer concerned over her absence, even though she was in lessons at another school.

Sophie Bond was praised for her performance in English as well as being told she excelled at technology at Patcham High School, Brighton. Sophie goes to Oakmeeds Community College in Burgess Hill.

Patcham High has apologised for what it said was a clerical error.

Sophie's mother Diane Bond, 42, was initially amused when the report, dated December 6, was posted through her door.

She said: "At first I thought it was funny and so did Sophie.

Then I began to take it seriously and now I am angry that a school can be so careless.

"The staff don't even know if my daughter is one of their pupils."

Sophie went to an induction day at the school before the beginning of this academic year.(July) Her mother decided she would go to Oakmeeds instead and they moved from the Seven Dials area of Brighton to Hurstpierpoint.

That did not stop Patcham High compiling a report for her for the entire term.

It said she was well-behaved but mentioned one slight area for concern, which was that she might be finding it difficult settling in.
It suggested teachers arrange a home visit with Ms Bond to discuss the problem.
Ms Bond complained to the school when the letter arrived but said she never received a reply.

Janet Stuart, chairwoman of the governors at Patcham High, denied the school had sent out a report.

She said: "The girl was marked down absent for a couple of weeks as a clerical error and the education welfare officer followed that up but found the family had moved on. It wasn't a report, it was a letter that had been written at the end of this short period of when she was being marked in the register. I haven't seen the letter but it was an acknowledgement that she was at the school. It was purely a clerical error that has now been rectified."

A school spokesman said: "The pupil in question had been registered here but due to an administrative error her name was not removed from our records when she chose to attend a different school. Unfortunately we mixed her up with a different pupil with the same first name. We are updating our systems as a matter of urgency and have apologised to Ms Bond."

Football crazy

What started as a whacky idea on the messagebaord of the Cardiff City website looks like turning into a reality.
Upset at the idea of being banned from seeing City play at Wolves, on January 20th, messagebaord user Steve Day, came up with the idea of hiring an airship to watch the game from above.

The idea was bounced around half jokingly until a genuine plan came into effect. The hire costs may run into thousands.

"A few of us came up with the idea and we got the wheels in motion," said Day.

"There are about 28 of us going so far and we can take up to 30 on board.We have checked West Midlands Police's regulations and what restrictions they're enforcing. There's nothing in there which says we can't fly above the ground in an airship. We're just going for the panoramic views. We are willing to go to any lengths to see the team play.I think the restrictions are ridiculous - to stop decent, honest people from going there. They have set the laws out and we have found a way round them.We want to watch football. If we have to watch it from a thousand feet then so be it."

He added: "It should be a good day. We get to see the football and get a trip in an airship too."

Whether or not this grand scheme get's off the ground is another matter. Will the WMP allow it? Whateve happens it's getting the media attention that will bring the ban that most football fans are against, into the public domain.

Already a protest has been arranged for 9am in Wolverhampton with the backing of the Football Supporters Federation.